Pedro: "Messi is my idol"

Barcelona player Pedro gave an interview to Tenerife local newspaper La Opinión de Tenerife.




On Tuesday, you again played some minutes after having been sidelined for several games.
Yes, and I'm truly happy to have played but above all to have won. It was great to play on Tuesday because the game and the competition were important. And even if it's only ten minutes, that's ten minutes... I should grab the chances that are offered to me to the fullest and I think I'm doing that.

You replaced Messi, which has to be a privilege.
Of course. I've never hidden that he's my idol. Leo is a great footballer, a key player in the world of football right now and for me the best player in the world. The truth is that I'm very happy to have him as a team-mate.

You feel like being part of the best team in the world?
Looking at the results and the way we play, you can say that Barcelona is one of the best teams in Europe and the world, but we should stay calm. Step by step, game by game. We're working very hard to play at this level and we're convinced that this is the way to success.

You feel like it's easier to play with this team because you're surrounded by all those excellent players?
Yes, everything becomes easier with team-mates like the ones I have but at the same time their talent makes it very difficult to play here. The level at Barça is very high and it's important to have playing time.

Everything went very fast for you?
Yes, it did, I almost didn't have time to adapt. The recipe to get there is to work every day with modesty, with calm... At the end, each morning you see all those fabulous players around you and you start to realize you're part of a great club.

Can we say that everything has turned out well for you since arriving in Barcelona?
Well, actually that's right. Everything has gone very well since the day I arrived here. They offered me to join the Juvenil team, I played a lot from the start and we won everything that season. It has been an honour to work with great coaches. I learnt a lot from all of them. I owe a lot to them and I'm very grateful to them, like to Barcelona for giving me this chance.

Although you're very young, football alreay gave you a lot of magic moments. You scored the decisive goal in the Copa for Juvenil teams, you made your debut in the fourth division when you were 16 years old, you soon made your debut in the first division, you scored your first goal...
And it all seems like it happened yesterday. It's true that football gave me a lot of great moments and of course I don't forget any of them, not even the ones I lived years ago, at the start of my career.


This was the first part of this interview. You will be able to read the second part here in the coming days with Pedro talking -among other things- about joining Barcelona and how he sees his future at the club.

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